The United States Decides to Reject Recent Repeated Demands Necessary to Revive Former Nuclear Deal

Recently, Iran “sent its response to the European Union to revive the 2015 nuclear power deal which could lead to Iran’s oil and gas being traded globally once again.” Initially, the deal stipulated “restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for no trade sanctions being placed on the country.” During his presidency in 2018, Donald Trump withdrew from the deal leading Iran to “expand its nuclear program.” The following video details how the Iran nuclear deal worked. [i]

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the EU has been sent a draft agreement; however, Iran’s answer has yet to be published. The ISNA expects a response from Iran on the proposed agreement within two days. There are allegedly still minor issues that Iran feels need to be addressed. [ii]

One critical issue that seems to be stalling the deal relates to “a safeguards probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The probe relates to several Iranian nuclear sites, where man-made nuclear particles were found several years ago.” Iran wants the probe to be closed for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to be restored. The US asserts that “this is a separate issue from the nuclear deal.”[iii]

In the video below, IAEA members detail how inspectors “had confirmed traces of uranium at a location in Iran not declared to the agency, which appeared to confirm allegations made by the US and Israel about a secret nuclear warehouse.” [iv]

In addition to controversy over the discovery of uranium traces, Iran also “seeks ultimate US guarantee that “no US administration” will renege on a revived pact.” It is being reported that,

The nuclear deal is a non-binding political agreement and not a legally-binding treaty, which means that President Joe Biden can’t extend any such guarantees.”

Finally, Iran requests that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be “removed from the US ‘terror’ list.” Washington has thus far refused this demand. The United States did not provide a timeline on when it would submit its response.

One week following Iran’s request, it has been reported that,

The United States, in its response to Iran’s comments on Brussels’ proposed draft agreement on the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), rejected all additional demands from Tehran, Al Arabiya on Thursday, citing a source.” [v]

The rejections are alleged to still rest on the US’ insistence on Iran’s level of uranium enrichment remaining below 4% and “unhindered access to Iranian nuclear facilities” by IAEA inspectors. The rejection of the additional demands makes it unknown whether the deal will pull through. [vi]

References

[i] Katherine McPhillips, Iran strikes deal with US over nuclear weapons after 16 months of negotiations, (Aug. 16, 2022)

[ii] Id.https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/15557799

[iii] EU Debates, Iran nuclear dehttps://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/15557799al could be near as EU circulates ‘final text,’ (Aug. 12, 2022)

[iv] DW News, Iran submits ‘written response’ to EU nuclear deal draft, (Aug. 16, 2022)

[v] TACC, Media: US rejects all additional demands of Iran to restore nuclear deal, (Aug. 25, 2022)

[vi] Id.